diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index b11b80a..eb3730e 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -322,6 +322,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "confy",
  "dirs",
+ "exitcode",
  "open",
  "openidconnect",
  "reqwest",
@@ -822,6 +823,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-sys",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "exitcode"
+version = "1.1.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "de853764b47027c2e862a995c34978ffa63c1501f2e15f987ba11bd4f9bba193"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ff"
 version = "0.13.0"
diff --git a/server/src/error.rs b/server/src/error.rs
index b6e9822..a6a6d7a 100644
--- a/server/src/error.rs
+++ b/server/src/error.rs
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ pub enum Error {
 
     #[error("invalid multipart")]
     InvalidMultipart,
+
+    #[error("invalid ttl")]
+    InvalidTtl,
 }
 
 impl IntoResponse for Error {
@@ -50,6 +53,7 @@ impl IntoResponse for Error {
             Self::InvalidMultipart => {
                 (StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, "invalid multipart data").into_response()
             }
+            Self::InvalidTtl => (StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, "invalid ttl specified").into_response(),
             _ => {
                 error!("{:?}", self);
                 (StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, "internal server error\n").into_response()
diff --git a/server/src/main.rs b/server/src/main.rs
index 6de1def..60f1461 100644
--- a/server/src/main.rs
+++ b/server/src/main.rs
@@ -197,8 +197,7 @@ async fn get_index(
 
 #[derive(Deserialize)]
 pub struct PostQuery {
-    #[serde(deserialize_with = "deserialize_option_duration")]
-    ttl: Option<Duration>,
+    ttl: Option<String>,
 }
 
 async fn post_item(
@@ -228,7 +227,11 @@ async fn post_item(
         let mut etag_hasher = Sha3_256::new();
         let mut size: u64 = 0;
 
-        let mut ttl = params.ttl.unwrap_or(Duration::from_secs(24 * 3600));
+        let mut ttl = params
+            .ttl
+            .map(|x| duration_str::parse(&x).map_err(|_| Error::InvalidTtl))
+            .transpose()?
+            .unwrap_or(Duration::from_secs(24 * 3600));
 
         match data {
             MultipartOrStream::Stream(mut stream) => {